Microencapsulación de antocianinas con actividad antioxidante extraídas a partir de la cáscara de pitahaya roja (Hylocereus undatus)

Abstract

In this research work, the extraction of anthocyanins from the red pitahaya peel (Hylocereus undatus) was performed. In order to preserve the antioxidant activity of anthocyanins, microencapsulation with different types of polymers were assessed by the verification of the antioxidant activity of these flavonoid using in vitro and in vivo assays. The polymers used in the formation of the microspheres were maltodextrin and gum arabic; with which microencapsulation efficiency values of 77.35 percent and 94.23 percent were obtained respectively. The evaluation of in vitro antioxidant activity was carried out by the DPPH method, which demonstrated that microencapsulation whit maltodextrin produced a percentage of free radical inhibition of 58.60 percent, that is, 405.01 micromol.l-1 equivalents of Trolox, while in the case of the microencapsulated gum arabic presented 72.22 percent DPPH inhibition, therefore the concentration in Trolox was equivalent to 498.33 micromol.l-1. The evaluation of antioxidant activity in vivo gave a positive result which was verified by the growth curve of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in the presence of the microencapsulates, comparing it with a reference antioxidant as vitamin C.